TV serial crime show 'Dexter' gets kill order

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

Cast member Michael C. Hall attends a panel for "Dexter" during the Showtime television portion of the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cable channel Showtime on Wednesday pulled the plug on “Dexter,” the critically acclaimed show about a police analyst who is also a serial killer.

Starring Michael C. Hall in the title role, the show that pushed boundaries in terms of violence and dark humor will conclude this summer at the end of its eighth season.

“When it debuted in 2006, ‘Dexter’ redefined the genre, by taking the anti-hero to new heights ... its cultural impact will be felt for years to come,” Showtime Chairman and CEO Matthew C. Blank said in a statement.

“Dexter” earned Hall a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award. The show has more than 13 million fans on Facebook and about 7 million Americans watched last season’s finale. The series is also broadcast in parts of Europe and Asia.

Hall, who is also an executive producer, told Entertainment Weekly that his character was ready for a final chapter after Dexter’s secret life of killing - which he justified on ethical grounds - was discovered by his police officer sister Debra at the end of the sixth season.

“I’ve been an advocate for having a dialogue with the writers and getting a sense of how to best bring this story home — not wrap everything up with a tidy bow, but find some sort of conclusion,” Hall told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month.

“There has to be an end game. Once Deb found out, it felt like we were moving toward a place where the world as Dexter knew it would end,” he added.

The final season of “Dexter” will begin on June 30. Showtime is a unit of CBS Corp.